AKJonesy

I find a closed bar to go and read as there are many closed bars during the daytime. There is generally never anyone in those bars. I RARELY if ever go to any entertainment venue, and luckily for me, the cruise line I travel on has pathetic entertainment anyway. I walk in the evening on the ship's promenade or jogging track again because hardly anyone does that because they are at dinner or in a bar. Nothing to exciting here.

I'm a 4 star Mariner which means I have many cruise days under my belt. I booked directly through the cruise line twice because the cruise line actually and surprisingly had a better fare. On the main cruise line I travel, they offer for two different prices, to pick your own room or they pick your room. I would never allow the cruise line to pick my room. Too often these category "guarantees" are in lousy areas where there is noise. An example would be under the dining area or under the pool where you will hear the chairs being dragged and carts rolled around at night. I ALWAYS pick my own room because I did the guarantee once and was put right next to the main stage and it was noisy. The online company that I use shows the available rooms and then I can look at the staterooms for that ship and look to see where the rooms are relative to where the noise is. It's always best to book a room where there are staterooms above, below and side. Also, be wary of those blank places because that is where the workers are. The blank places could mean a dining room, a storage room (linens, etc), and ice machine room, etc). If/when you book through a discount agency, make sure to tell them to UNCHECK the "guarantee" which means to make sure that you want to KEEP the room you booked. The reason for the guarantee can be upgrading you to a higher level room for same price. This can be a bait and switch. Just because you can be upgraded to a different category doesn't mean its a better stateroom. It can be a stateroom above a casino, or music venue. Once you get to the point of booking a stateroom, get the stateroom layout for your ship and ask other cruisers. There are people here that will give you their opinions on that stateroom. The staterooms can generally be held for a brief period.

Sorry, I forgot to add this one also which includes a pictoral. https://www.gotokyo.org/en/plan/getting-around/cruise-terminal/index.html

Here is some good information and it includes options getting from NRT to HND, and various places in Tokyo. https://www.pretraveller.com/narita-airport-nrt-to-haneda-airport-hnd-transfer/ and here: https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Tokyo-Narita-Airport-NRT/Tokyo-International-Cruise-Terminal-Station

ED. Better ports, longer cruise.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/ships/pdf-files/no.pdf I always look above, below and next to looking at the HAL pdf for the ship. Any will be fine as mentioned.

Shuttle, train and fly on Air Canada or Delta YVR to SEA. If you fly on Delta or Air Canada you can take the tram two blocks from the cruise ship terminal right to the airport. Last year we flew from SEA to YVR on Air Canada and took the tram which was fast. We also took the shuttle from the YVR airport to Canada Place (cruise terminal in Vancouver) on a different trip. The people at HAL are at the airport directing you where to go. You can do this in reverse also obviously. When you collect your luggage upon disembarkation, you walk out the door and the busses are right there. The Amtrak can you you there also, but you need to get to the Amtrak station and I suggest a cab since it's not far from Canada Place. You can also take the tram which is close to the Amtrak station. https://www.amtrak.com/cascades-train https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Vancouver-Airport-YVR/Canada-Place You will be able to purchase a shuttle from Canada Place to SEA through Holland.

Upvote for the old HAL Rotterdam which has been converted into a hotel. It is called the SS Rotterdam by Westcord. Here's some links: https://whatsinport.com/Rotterdam.htm and https://ssrotterdam.com and transfer from AMS to Rotterdam - https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Amsterdam-Schiphol-Airport-AMS/Rotterdam Make sure to check out the subway on google maps. Everything is pretty convenient.

We were there when that big storm hit in December. We were on the top floor of a hotel and around midnight I heard what sounded like someone dropping and rolling bowling balls on the roof. I got up, looked out the window and the trees were bent over sideways and the siding from the hotel was coming off and up in the air. By the time we got dressed to leave the room, it was over. The next day on the way to airport we saw trees completely uprooted and everything was in a straight line. I'm not surprised the port building was damaged.

I've been in that angled room with the angled balcony and liked it for the fact that you have more room for the footstool. Honestly, what's most important to me is that the balcony is covered, which they are, and that the staterooms are away from noisy areas.

We always do 5:00, and this reminds me of a Seinfeld episode :). But anyway, we don't eat lunch so by 5:00 we are hungry. Then after, we take a nice leisure walk on the Promenade, mostly by ourselves because everyone else is in the bars or getting ready for dinner. Then after, we head to a show; not to bed. :)

I would agree with both #2 and #3. I avoid 7 day cruises out of Fort Lauderdale when I know there is a school break. I don't see college kids. I think they would avoid HAL and go for the shorter sailings (3-5 day) booze cruises. What I see on HAL is parents with their school age children and as one of the posters said, they CAN overrun the pool areas, but then, they are KIDS, so that is what they do.

Join your Roll Call on cruise critic. Then you will be communicating with people who will be on that cruise. The Roll Call probably won't pick up for awhile because it's fairly far out from it's sail date.

Maybe they got the word, "your not welcome here" - :)

It's a hop skip from there to downtown...an easy, quick Uber ride. Probably worth it considering sky high prices of hotels in downtown. ALSO, it's an 8 minute walk from Hyatt House to the bus stop on Arctic (route 35) which takes you straight to downtown in minutes. https://www.muni.org/Departments/transit/PeopleMover/Documents/!2023 Documents/Service Change/System Map.pdf

You are going to get sticker shock for accommodations here. There are a couple of really nice apartments on airbnb in downtown that I would recommend over a hotel. Look at the reviews and check out the location. If you find a place and want an opinion, get back to us here.

Upvote #3 post if you want to stay in hotel. There are two apartments downtown on airbnb for about $100 less with excellent reviews that I would recommend also, but they would be a number of blocks from the RR.

Find another stateroom. No way unless you go to bed very late.

I agree, this stateroom looks pretty good. I was more concerned about how close this stateroom was to the World Stage but it is on deck 4.

You mentioned two teens and that trail hike would be nice for them. Also, the tram going up the mountain would also be a fun thing to do for them. By June 26, I'd say good chance you can do more than just take the tram up with a quick look around. By then you "should" be able to hike up further, which to me...is the adventure; not riding the tram. But, before you buy a ticket there at the Alyeska Hotel for the tram, just ask if they've opened it up. You can get a look at the webcam at Alyeska now but obviously, you are going to see snow. Plus, we are dark until at least 9am right now, so don't bother looking at the webcam 🙂

Most of the time when I make an assumption about some situation, I find that there is a reasonable explanation. Saying that, I'm not siding with the "pier runners". I agree with another poster on booking private excursions because too many times we've had "those people" that think they bought the whole bus and are on "their time" vs. "our time" and constantly hold everyone up. Deep down, I do enjoy watching and laughing at pier runners. It seems to be more common on Carnival.

I think I used HAL once to book a cruise. We are currently 4 star Mariners so we have a lot of cruise days under our belt. I have used an online discount cruise booking agency for years. They have beat HAL's best rates every time except once. On our latest cruise, we paid 2K less than the best HAL fare. That's a lot of extra $ to spend on excursions and upscale dining! I also have my own cruise consultant and I get to PICK MY OWN ROOM, so I'm not getting the lowest guarantee rate. You have to be careful on the guarantees. They can put you in a horrible place. So, I've had great booking and cruising experiences this way, but many people do just book directly through HAL.

You didn't mention when you are coming. That would make a difference to me going to Alyeska. Just riding the tram at Alyeska Hotel to the top to me isn't the attraction; you also want to hike up the mountain a bit from the tram. If we have a slow melt or if it's early in the season (fall), hiking up away from where you get off the tram could be closed. Also, outside the back of the Alyeska Hotel and right near the tram is the entrance to the Winner Creek Trail. I don't know if the "hand tram" is going to be open, but this is a beautiful hike. https://www.alyeskaresort.com/hiking-trekking/ I agree that going to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) is worth it, but DON'T just do a drive through. You really need to park your car in the parking lot and walk it. This will give you opportunities to see the animals up close. I take all of my friends and family there when they visit. If I understand you correctly, you said that you could get a rental car if it's worth it. I guess I'd opt for the rental car then you can really immerse yourself in that entire area and see all of the sites including Portage Valley, Girdwood, the Turnagain Arm and AWCC. If the bus, just does a drive through at the AWCC, I wouldn't do it.

I had a Go Pro for years and used it in a number of ways. I mounted it on my snowmobile and helmet. I had a mounting stick to use for selfies. I used a tripod and I also had a mount for my chest. The problem with the Go Pro is that it's small and holding it still is very difficult. You don't want you vid to be bouncing around so you need to get the settings right. It's more about the settings then pairing that up with the right accessories. It took me awhile to get good vid content. Also, it took awhile to learn video editing. My Go Pro originally came with a video editor, but there used to be aftermarket editors. Look at content on you tube and other places. There are some good "beginner guides" out there. Watch vids then practice before you go.

I don't want to take the discussion in a different direction, but I just wanted to mention another possible option for anyone that might want talk and text instead of an internet package. We have used Cellular at Sea a number of times, but most recently on our 31 day South America trip. We purchased Cellular at Sea through our mobile ATT plan. It cost $100 per month for talk, text and a tiny bit of data. We did NOT opt for data or the land portion. This has saved us a few times. But, most recently we had a major snowstorm that knocked out power for a few days, caused a lock out on our boiler (heating) and a few other problems. Friends and neighbors told us about the storm, and we were able to instruct them on turning on the generator, and fixing the boiler lockout. Also, it was nice to talk to our kids when we were out at sea. On the long transatlantic sea days we will also do this. As I said, this is just another option in case people are only interested in that type of access. Maybe there are other standard plans that people have through their mobile contracts that I'm not aware of. I just wanted to mention it.